Theatrical lighting fixtures (or “luminaires”) are used in theatres, nightclubs, concerts and the like to produce a wide variety of visual effects. An example of a multi-parameter lighting fixture is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,392,187 to Bomhorst.
One type of effect is a continuous wheel effect, which is used in theatrical lighting to give animated visual effects reminiscent of, for example, passing clouds or flames. Traditionally, such an effect is produced by placing an appropriate rotating mask in front of a lamp with the center of the rotating mask outside of the beam of the lamp. A continuous wheel effect tends to be relatively static, apart from the rotation of the mask.
In general, the lighting apparatus may be in the form of a component for insertion into a luminaire, or other lighting fixture. The invention extends, therefore, to a luminaire comprising the lighting apparatus of the invention. The luminaire generally includes a light source, such as for example, a discharge lamp. The luminaire includes optical components, such as an elliptical reflector, arranged to direct light from a light source along the light path to the plane of the effect wheel. The luminaire includes one or more lenses, prisms, shutters and/or apertures arranged to direct light from the plane of the effect wheel out of the luminaire. The lighting apparatus may also include additional optical effects, such as gobos, color filters, prisms and the like.